LS polls, federal rights: How Siddaramaiah is killing two birds with one stone with tax protest

In the game of political chess, Siddaramaiah seems to be strategically positioning his cards to prepare his party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and, simultaneously, trying to emerge as a leader of the southern states.

After demonstrating a 'historic' agitation in Delhi against the central government on Wednesday (February 7), Siddaramaiah successfully addressed the perceived 'injustice' in fund allocation and reduced tax devolution to Karnataka. His strategy, marked by taking his entire cabinet to Delhi, demanded justice for Karnataka with the rallying cry of "My tax, my right."

Kerala, TN CMs take cue, follow suit

The clever move has not gone unnoticed, with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin now adopting similar strategies. The echoes of dissent have reached Telangana, contributing to a growing voice demanding justice. Interestingly, Siddaramaiah and his economic advisor, Basavaraj Raya Reddy, are concurrently engaged in discussions about the 'Economic Alliance of Southern States.'

However, amid these strategic moves, a controversial proposal has added fuel to the political fire. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar's brother, MP DK Suresh, warned of a possibility that someone might raise the idea of 'separate nationhood' for the southern states while criticising the disparity in the central budget for Karnataka. Although this statement drew condemnation from the opposition BJP, Siddaramaiah elevated the narrative to the next level cleverly. He announced an agitation in Delhi under the banner of "Chalo Delhi," raising the broader issue of injustice faced by the southern states. This has raised concerns within the BJP, while southern states, including Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, rally behind Siddaramaiah's vision.

Behind Siddaramaiah’s protest

P Thyagaraj, advisor to Shivakumar, emphasised the alleged historical neglect of southern states by the central government. He highlighted Siddaramaiah's timely intervention in Delhi, capturing national attention and inspiring other states to follow the same.

A leader in the Congress, who didn’t want to be named, said while Siddaramaiah has initiated the protest to counter the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, his government is also facing an acute fund crunch because of the five guarantee schemes (Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Shakti, and Yuvanidhi) it introduced and on which around ₹50,000 crore is expected to be spent. At this juncture, the reduction in the devolution of taxes from the central government has become a worrying factor for him and for the other developmental works and grants. Now at the right time, Siddaramaiah has made this move and is pointing fingers at the central government, the Congress leader added.

Strong leader of the South

Experts say that Siddaramaiah, after so many years of Karnataka politics, has now emerged as a leader who fights for the rights of the state within the federal structure. Earlier, former chief minister Ramakrishna Hegde of the Janata Party emerged as a champion of the rights for the state and a strong opposition leader from the southern states while the Congress government was in power in Delhi.

During the 1980s, Hegde stormed out of the development council accusing it of not giving him enough opportunity to express his views. His walkout had led to a similar march out by many other opposition leaders. Following this, he demanded a review of the centre-state relationships and hosted a meeting with his two southern counterparts, NT Rama Rao of Andhra Pradesh and MG Ramachandran of Tamil Nadu, and formed a council of chief ministers. Immediately, he emerged as a voice to reckon with and caught the attention of the nation, said political analyst C Rudrappa to The Federal.

“It now appears that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is fast emerging as a new rising star in the opposition ranks with his series of serious accusations against the Union government’s ‘discrimination’ towards Karnataka’ and a march to Delhi. What has captured the imagination of the Opposition is his full-page advertisement in all the leading dailies about the march, where he is shown walking behind the Mahatma in an artistic depiction that’s reminiscent of the immortal Dandi March that Gandhi had led against the British almost a century ago. The Live TV news grabs of Siddaramaiah walking hand in hand with his Deputy DK Shivakumar and MLAs in bright outfits, flashing shiny mobile phones, heading to the Bangalore airport lounge on Tuesday must have been an eyesore to the BJP leaders in the state who are taken aback by the sudden resurgence of the Congress party's image makeover,” he said.

Grievance redressal

Siddaramaiah, a leader who emerged from the then Janata Party and Janata Dal also seems to be following the ideation of Hegde. After his ‘Chalo Delhi’ movement on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah arranged a ‘Jana Spandana’ event in front of the Vidhana Soudha to hear the grievances of the general public individually. It is said that thousands of people from all over the state are participating in the programme.

Jana Spandana programme is the next version of Janata Darshan, the chief minister’s programme to meet the public at his residence. Now he is arranging the larger version in the name of Jana Spandana for the second time (the first programme was held in November 2023) at Vidhana Soudha.

The said programme is a brainchild of Hegde, who started it to personally listen to the grievances of people once a week. While the model was adopted by several other chief ministers in the state, Siddaramaiah has now taken it to the next level.

While Siddaramaiah along with his social scheme guarantees and strategic moves is readying for the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP banks on the charisma of its leader, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the party’s mega ‘achievement’ of having built the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya to woo the voters. However, whether it works for Congress or not will be known during the elections, said a minister of the Siddaramaiah cabinet, who wanted to remain unnamed.